1 36 The Irish Naturalist. Mav 



account of the delicate structure of the leaves, &c., the plant is remark- 

 able as being the most arctic moss in the British Islands, and should be 

 looked for by Irish and Scotch collectors in the habitats of Splachnum, 

 and among herbarium specimens under the latter name ; it may be at 

 once detected on account of the small size of the fruit. It is well known 

 to grow in arctic North America, Greenland, Melville Island, Norwayi 

 &c. Mr. M'Ardle also exhibited an excellent drawing of the plant by 

 Mr. E. Salmon {Journal of Botanv. vol. xl., tab. 430, 1902). 



BELFAST NATURAL HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 



SOCIETY. 



ApRit. 7.— George Cofeey, m.r.i.a., Keeper of the Irish Antiquities 

 in the National Museum, Dublin, lectured on "A Lost Principle in 

 Art." 



BELFAST NATURALISTS' FIELD CLUB. 



March 17. — The President (F. J. Bigger) in the chair. The evening 

 was devoted to the exhibition of lantern slides, dealing with natural 

 history and archaeology. W. A. Green exhibited and described some 

 new views of slide cars in the north of Antrim, and some rock scenery 

 on the Antrim Coast. H. M'CIvEERY and G. M'Lean then showed a 

 number of slides of organisms obtained on a former dredging expedition 

 in Belfast Lough. Robert Wej^ch exhibited a number of slides 

 showing the perforation of rocks by Helix aspersa, and elucidated a 

 much-disputed point as to the origin of certain rock markings which he 

 had observed near Whitehead. Views of the recent floods at Limavady 

 Junction and the erosion of cliffs gave evidence of the severitj'^ of last 

 month's storm. Joseph Wright contributed a note on foraminiferal 

 Boulder-clay from AVoodburu, Carrickfergus. The list is now brought 

 up to 100 species. No other British locality has yielded such a number 

 of Pleistocene forms. One ounce of the clay which was examined with 

 great care was found to contain 2,000 specimens. Of the rarer forms, 

 the following are the most interesting : — Lagena deprcssa, Frondiadaria 

 millettii, and Trtincatulitia rdiculata. There now only remains by the side 

 of the Woodburn stream a very small exposure of this highly fossili 

 ferous clay, and what there is will probably ere long get covered with 

 the soil. The remainder of the evening was occupied by James 

 STEiyFOX, who exhibited a large number of excellent slides of the west 

 coast of Norway and Spitzbergeu. The election of a new member closed 

 the meeting. 



